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Matera
Our first glimpse of the Old Town What a feeling it is to wake up in Matera and know you have the time to explore this UNESCO Heritage city at leisure. We are here for four nights. Time to relax, explore and experience this city. But first the washing. Up stairs we have a fancy new electronic washing machine. We flick through the controls and discover a twenty minute wash that suits our needs. We press some more buttons, head back downstairs, start breakfast, and before long we hear the beeping sound telling us the first load is finished. In goes the next load. The conditions for clothes drying are brilliant. Soon we have the second load ready for hanging out and some of the first load is ready to bring in. Our roof top clothes line is brilliant.
With the chores done we plan the rest of the day. It is about a fifteen minute walk to the old town. We have decided that it would be good to go out on a preliminary expedition so that we know what to plan for on Day 2 and 3. Walking to the old town we pass a pharmacy with its advertising sign showing time and temperature. The
Matera
S.Giovanni Battista displayed temperature is 34 degrees. It feels hot. Today we will not venture far.
We arrive in an area humming with tourists. They fill all the vantage points. After an easy walk through some of the streets we stop for a bite of lunch. The place we choose is not prepared for tourists today. The yoghurt machine is broken, the crèpe element is cold, staff of two are overwhelmed with six customers. They’ll need to get their act together come the serious tourist season. Over lunch we decide that it would be a good idea to make an early start in the morning to beat the heat and the crowds, if any.
We head back to the apartment past groups of men having quite animated discussions sitting around tables outside cafes and bars. We feel like joining in and giving our opinion of the opening tour match between the British and Irish Lions and the New Zealand Barbarians. But we decide against it. Their conversation is probably about the Champions League Game in Turin and the resulting stampede. Perhaps it is the state of local politics or how to sort out the rubbish problem. One major issue could
Matera
Inside S.Giovanni Battista be the car with the French number plate that has taken up residence in their street. Whatever is being discussed it is just what we expect in this Italian city on a quiet hot Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile what are the women doing? Cooking, washing, ironing, child minding, or sitting around a table with a nice local red wine discussing what their men folk are talking about. Who would know but that is how it is in the South.
We have missed an opportunity of buying in some ingredients for dinner tonight and we don’t feel like a pizza so we use what we have. It is a nice light Sunday evening meal. We have had some long driving days and we can feel an early bed time coming on. We want to be up early in the morning for a good start visiting part of the old town. Just as we begin to close our devices we read about our former Prime Minister receiving a knighthood and that he and his wife will be holidaying in Southern Italy. We didn’t realize he was reading our blogs. Perhaps we might meet in the sassi and have a beer together. On
Matera
S.Biagio the other hand......
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